Section 3 of the United Football League’s (UFL) Uniform Player Contract states the following:
Player acknowledges and agrees that he may only receive a Release pursuant to this subparagraph (b), upon payment of One Hundred Fifty Thousand Dollars ($150,000.00) (the “Release Fee”), to be paid to Management by Player, the NFL, and NFL Club or any combination thereof. Such Release Fee may be reduced or waived at the sole and absolute discretion of the Commissioner.
Even though agents had knowledge of the clause prior to the start of the UFL season, many of them were very upset that the UFL was enforcing the $150,000 fee. Last year, the League decided to waive the fee, but up until last Thursday, the League was unwilling to budge from its stance that the fee was here to stay.
The existence of the $150,000 Transfer Fee certainly affected at least one player. The Minnesota Vikings pulled back from signing Lorenzo Booker after the UFL extended its hand asking for the six figure amount.
But then, all of a sudden, the UFL retracted from its hard-line stance. It did not scrap the entire fee, but it did divide it by six. Now, any NFL team interested in adding a UFL player to its roster has the opportunity to do so at the price of $25,000. The player also has the option of paying the fee if the team does not wish to spend the money.
Already one UFL player has been acquired by an NFL team for $25,000, and you will likely see that player tonight on Monday Night Football. The New England Patriots added DE/OLB Eric Moore to its roster. Pierre Woods was released to make room for Moore on the Patriots’ roster.
